1. Every day throughout the world,
39 000 young girls are married before reaching the age of majority. More
than one third of them are younger than 15. Forced marriages between
adults are also frequent. All countries in Europe are affected by
these harmful practices, whether in the form of forced marriages
concluded in Europe, forced marriages of European nationals or residents
concluded elsewhere, or persons forced to marry before arriving
in Europe. These human rights violations affect above all women
and girls, but they also affect men and boys.

2. Many ruined lives, much wasted potential and serious health
risks lie behind these figures. For young girls, marrying often
means dropping out of school, separation from their families, transitioning
too quickly from childhood to adult life, domestic slavery, unprotected
and forced sexual relations and unwanted pregnancies that endanger
their health. Forced marriages during adulthood deprive women of
the possibility of determining all matters relating to their life
choices, their sexuality and sexual and reproductive health freely
and without coercion, discrimination or violation of their rights.
For women and girls, forced marriage is often synonymous with violence
and repeated sexual assault and rape.

3. The Assembly condemned these practices in its Resolution 1468 (2005) on
forced marriages and child marriages, in which it defined forced
marriage as the union of two persons, at least one of whom has not
given their full and free consent to the marriage, and child marriage
as the union of two persons, at least one of whom is under 18 years
of age. These definitions remain valid today, with child marriage
being one form of forced marriage, as a child cannot be considered
to have expressed full, free and informed consent to a marriage.
A marriage in which at least one of the parties is not free to put
an end to the marriage or to leave his or her spouse is also a forced
marriage.

4. Forced marriage is not simply a question of being forced to
accept a spouse but involves a series of human rights violations,
including violations of children's rights and violent acts against
women. It violates an entire series of other rights, including their
rights to physical integrity, physical and mental health, sexual
and reproductive health, education, private life, freedom and autonomy.

5. International standards to prevent and combat forced marriages
have existed for a long time. The more recent Council of Europe
Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and
Domestic Violence (CETS No. 210, “Istanbul Convention”) moreover
defines forced marriage as a form of violence and calls on States
Parties to criminalise such marriages. However, the measures put
in place thus far have proved inadequate to stem this harmful practice
within our member States.

6. The Assembly considers it essential for member States to step
up their efforts to prevent and combat forced marriages and put
an end to the violence and violation of rights that they entail.
These efforts must include all those concerned, such as the communities
in which forced marriages are practised, grassroots organisations,
social and education services, the police, the justice system and
health-care professionals. Awareness-raising and education campaigns
must involve both women and men in the communities concerned and
sever the link between these harmful practices and gender stereotypes,
and culture and traditions, including the concept of so-called “honour”,
which help ensure that they continue.

7. In the light of the above, the Assembly calls on member States
of the Council of Europe to:

7.1. include
the fight against forced marriages in their national policies and
practices to prevent and combat violence against women and girls,
and set up a specific body within their administrative authorities
dedicated to the fight against forced marriages;

7.2. run public awareness-raising and information campaigns
to combat forced marriages and support the initiatives of non-governmental
organisations in this field;

7.3. develop and strengthen the structures put in place to
assist victims and those at risk of forced marriage, including telephone
helplines for urgent calls and accommodation and shelters for women
and girls who have had to leave their homes;

7.4. enhance the empowerment of women and girls, in particular
by guaranteeing their access to education and to the labour market;

7.5. with regard to domestic law:

7.5.1. criminalise,
as a specific offence, intentional conduct forcing an adult or a
child to enter into a marriage, as well as luring an adult or a
child abroad for the purpose of forcing him or her to enter into
a marriage, and provide for effective sanctions against the perpetrators
and those who aid, abet, or attempt to commit such offences;

7.5.2. prohibit, without exception, child marriage and abolish
differences between girls and boys in terms of the minimum age for
marriage;

7.5.3. put in place mechanisms to verify, prior to the marriage,
that there is true consent on the part of both spouses, bearing
in mind that each party must be free to refuse to go ahead with
the marriage without suffering any negative consequences;

7.5.4. adopt civil law measures against forced marriage, such
as restraining or protection orders, within the meaning of the Istanbul
Convention, together, where appropriate, with a ban on leaving the
country, in order to prevent forced marriages when cases involving
persons at risk are reported;

7.5.5. ensure that births and marriages are registered and that
anyone forced to conclude an unregistered marriage and any children
resulting from that marriage are given the same level of protection
as if the marriage had been registered;

7.5.6. take measures to ensure that forced marriages may be voidable,
annulled or dissolved without placing an undue financial or administrative
burden on the victim;

7.6. in order to ensure the effective application of criminal
and civil law provisions to prevent and punish forced marriage,
improve the conditions for enabling the reporting of cases of forced
marriage and guarantee the protection of victims, whistle-blowers
and other witnesses as long as required to ensure their safety;

7.7. with regard to their commitments under international law:

7.7.1. sign and/or ratify and fully implement the relevant Council
of Europe instruments, in particular the Council of Europe Convention
on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic
Violence;

7.7.2. sign and/or ratify the United Nations Convention on Consent
to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages,
and the Amendment and Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women;

7.8. recognise forced marriage as a ground for international
protection;

7.9. refrain from recognising forced marriages contracted abroad
but, where it would be in the victim’s best interests, recognise
the effects of the marriage insofar as this would enable the victim
to secure rights which they could not otherwise claim;

7.10. collect accurate and comparable data on forced marriages,
broken down by sex and age, and carry out detailed studies on the
causes and frequency of these practices and on the associated risk factors;

7.11. in order to guarantee the protection of victims and persons
at risk from the very moment when their situation is reported, provide
detailed training for professionals working in the social and education services,
the police and the justice system and health-care professionals;

7.12. establish effective co-ordination mechanisms and mechanisms
for monitoring victims and those at risk, and promote exchanges
of good practices, referring in particular in this connection to
the Guide to good and promising practices aimed at preventing and
combating female genital mutilation and forced marriage, drawn up
by the Steering Committee for Human Rights.

8. The Assembly encourages national parliaments to support action
to prevent forced marriage at national level and through their international
co-operation activities.

9. The Assembly welcomes and supports the Sustainable Development
Goals adopted by the United Nations, which include the elimination
of forced marriage by 2030, and encourages all Council of Europe member
States to make an active contribution to the implementation of those
goals.

10. Finally, the Assembly acknowledges that forced marriages are
linked to other harmful practices, such as female genital mutilation,
the subject of its Resolution
2135 (2016), and so-called “honour crimes”, the subject of
its Resolution 1681 (2009) and
its Recommendation 1881
(2009), which the member States of the Council of Europe
must also combat firmly and resolutely.